


Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

by oversizedmelancholy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Jilly - Fandom
Genre: Cuddles, F/M, Hogwarts Head Boys & Head Girls, Hospital, James Potter - Freeform, James Potter Is So Precious, Lily Evans - Freeform, Madame Pompfrey - Freeform, Marauders, Quidditch, Sick Character, Teenagers, Third Person POV, jamesxlily, jilly - Freeform, sick, sick cuddles, sirius black - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 19:28:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20587844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oversizedmelancholy/pseuds/oversizedmelancholy
Summary: Lily Evans has a terrible cold and is sent to the hospital wing. Her boyfriend misses her quite a lot.





	1. Chapter 1

“_Please, _just let me see her for a minute. It won’t take long.” 

Madame Pompfrey repeated what she has said multiple times to the Head Boy in the past ten minutes.

“No, Mr. Potter. You have Quidditch practice and Miss Evans needs her rest. She will be discharged in a day or so; you will have to wait until then.”

A whine that sounded quite like a injured puppy sounded throughout the wing. Lily couldn’t see his face as the curtains surrounding her cot were drawn, but she could imagine his handsome features scrunched up and his hazel eyes wide and pleading. 

“Madame Pompfrey, have you ever been in love?” 

An indignant stutter came from the healer, but James plowed on. 

“It feels like your every breath is chained to theirs, and I can’t breathe without making sure she’s okay.” 

“Mr. Potter, it’s just a bad cold-“ 

“She’s _cold, _and _alone, _and _sick, _and she’s the love of my life and I can’t go this long without seeing her-“ 

James’s voice was cracking at this point. Lily couldn’t help it when a small giggle slipped through her clenched lips. Her boyfriend fell silent beyond the curtain. 

“Miss Evans, are you up for a quick visitor?” came Madame Pompfrey’s reluctant query. Lily swung her feet off the bed, wincing through the rush of nausea that accompanied the quick movement, and pulled the curtain back. 

“I guess so,” she said with a smirk, voice raspy from not talking. 

You would have thought Lily have given James the world in a bowl. His tanned skin seems to face, his lips tugging into a wide smile.

His hair was an unfairly attractive mess, and he was dressed in his Quidditch jumper and practice trousers and boots. His cheeks were ruddy from the cold. 

Madame Pompfrey murmured something to him, which he nodded to and she retired to her office in the back. James wasted no time striding to her cot and gathering her in his arms. Lily sighed at the touch and the warmth.

James radiated heat, something she was everlastingly grateful for at the moment. She burrowed her chilled face in the hollow of his necks and slipped her icy hands under his jumper.

He jumped then hissed at her, but Lily just let out a hoarse laugh and spread her fingers along his defined abdominal muscles, letting them thaw. 

His large hand combed through her hair, pushing her further into the crevice where his broad shoulders met his neck, then wrapped a muscular arm around her back and curled it around her waist, hand splaying on her stomach and tugging her closer. Lily sighed and laid boneless in her boyfriend’s heated embrace, humming with absolute contentment. 

“You’re late to practice, Captain,” she whispered into his shoulder, her lips kissing his neck with every word. 

“Fuck practice,” he murmured into her wine-red hair, his chest rumbling when he spoke. She laughed softly, the pulled back with the little self control she had left. His hand tightened on her waist, but he left her pull back enough to see her face, other hand still cupping the back of her head. Lily couldn’t imagine she looked good. Her eyes were red and her nose was runny, the flush gone from her face and the color stolen from her lips. 

But James still examined her slowly, taking note of every freckle and dimple. Noted her full lips lacked color, but her eyes were still vivid and leafy green. Sick or no, nothing about Lily Evans would ever be dull or colorless. To James, the rest of the world was black and white, and Lily was the source of every color. 

“Nice speech, by the way.” With the way his face flushed, James needed to clarification as to what Lily was referencing. His tangent to Madame Pompfrey. 

“It came from the heart,” he answered, shrugging.

James glanced outside the door, where a fourth year in Quidditch attire was hovering awkwardly, no doubt sent to retrieve him by Sirius. 

“I’ll sneak back in. Tonight. I’ll leave before the sun rises.” Now that he had his fix, Lily became even more addictive because of her absence. 

“James, I’ll be out first thing-“ 

He cut her off with a searing kiss, gripped her hair gently and tilting her head up. He nipped at her bottom lip lightly and Lily sighed before pulling away. 

“Tonight?” He asked, childlike and playful. 

“Tonight.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Lily was beginning to think that James had forgotten his promise. The sun had set hours ago, and James had promised to come back tonight. 

And he was not here. 

Marlene and Mary had visited, coming with chocolate and tea. They made fun of her and James, saying they didn’t know how they made it this long without seeing each other. Frankly, neither did Lily. 

She curled up under the thick blanket on her cot and tucked her hands under her pillow for warmth. She had worked on Prefect rounds until she was done, and catching up on her missing classwork, save the Transfiguration essay that had made her want to tear her hair out. She resigned to leave it half finished and let James finish the rest. After all, she guided him through most of potions class. It was only fair. 

She set the work-in-progress essay down on the small beside table, having to shove teacups and chocolate bars out of the way to fit it. Marlene and Sirius had even brought a rudimentary “Get Well” card, depicting a crude drawing of a woman with long red hair that was being lowered into a coffin. She had been helping a gentle third-year Ravenclaw with Charms when they delivered the card, and the girl (named Rosie) looked absolutely scandalized at the card. Lily has thought it was rather funny. 

She checked her little golden wristwatch. 9:17 pm. James should have been here, seeing as the sun had set hours ago. She resigned to sleep, assuming James would wake her up if he came. She slipped down under the covers and turned to her side, pulling her knees to her chest and tucking the sheets between her hands. She went to sleep dutifully ignoring the child-like disappointment at her boyfriends failure to arrive. 

“_James is Head Boy, for crying out loud. And Quidditch Captain. You sound like a baby. Something probably came up!”_

And knowing James’s talent for mischievous acts, this was very likely. He matured out of his more base urges, which included but were not limited to stink bombs, color changing hair, sticking charms to attach first years who had crushes on each other. Although, he had stuck her to Benjy Flickwick her second year and secured her a first date, so maybe that was a good thing. Although he had never done it again. 

With those thoughts, Lily drifted into sleep and was awoken by soft chatter a couple beds down. 

“James?” she murmured into the dark wing. No response, and the conversation didn’t seem to hear her either. She was curious, and leaned over her bed to listen, placing a steadying hand on the edge of the nightstand. 

“Did you read the Prophet today?” asked the first voice. A boy, probably a third or fourth year by the voice cracks. 

“Of course I did. It’s so awful.” 

“Attacking Muggleborns is one thing,”

Lily’s lips pursed with displeasure, but if she hadn’t wanted to be offended she shouldn’t have listened,

“but Muggles? They don’t have anything to do with it!”

Lily’s heart leapt into her throat and she bit down on her lip to keep whatever sound was on the tip of her tongue inside her mouth. Muggles? Her mind flew to her precious parents, to her estranged sister, even her pale whale of a boyfriend.

“_Where? Where did it happen?” _

Like they knew what she needed to hear, the location was provided. 

“And downtown London, too! They’re getting bolder.” 

“I know. But at least no one was killed, although that one Auror can only quack now.”

Lily’s shoulders sagged in relief. No one was hurt, and they were no where near her little grey suburb of Cokeworth. Although the location of the attack had probably made the situation rather sticky. She would have to owl Dorcas, a Slytherin who has graduated two years prior and was now an Auror, and ask her about it. 

She checked her watch again as the conversation faded away and the couple said their good nights. 11:52 pm. She huffed with frustration and crossed her arms over her chest. Why would he promise to come if he wasn’t planning on coming? Did he change his mind? 

Her thoughts came to a skidding halt when a phantom pair of arms wrapped around her. She shrieked with surprise and the ghost pressed a hand over her mouth. 

“Merlin, Lils, tell the whole castle I’m here,” came James’s disembodied voice. She relaxed, sinking back into her pillows, and grabbed blindly in front of her. She felt the silken sheet that was the Invisibility Cloak and pulled it, revealing wild black hair, tanned skin, and hazel eyes that gleamed when they met hers. She grinned at her boyfriend and he covered the distance between their faces, kissing her sweetly in the dark. She pressed her smile onto his lips and she heard him shove off his slippers, pulling his legs onto the bed with the rest of him. 

“You’re late,” she accused between kisses. He ducked down and began pressing light butterfly kisses along her neck, lightly nibbling her earlobe and drawing a soft sigh from her lips. 

“And kissing doesn’t count as an apology,” she breathed to him. He chuckled against her skin and went back to his task with more attention than he used in most of his classes. 

“Sure they can,” James responded eventually, “You’ve excepted them before.” Lily’s brain provided helpful memories of when she had, in fact, been kissed into forgiveness by the man in question. In her defense, James was a _sinfully _good kisser. His lips were magic. 

She let him kiss down to her collarbone before she stopped him, not wanting to go any further in the Hospital Wing. James pouted when she pushed him away. 

“I was just getting started.” 

“I’m sure you were,” she told him with a smile. With her facing him like this, the half-moon shone through his dark hair and surrounded him with an ethereal halo. James was all golden and sunlight and summer, but the soft white light of the moon suited him just as well. She pulled by the hem of his Weird Sisters t-shirt and kissed him on the forehead, warm and affectionate. 

“Thank you for coming,” she whispered sleepily. 

“Even though I was late?” 

“Even then,” she assured, lacing her hand with his and pressing kisses on top of his calloused knuckles. 

“Did you read the Prophet today?” she inquired casually as she tilted their conjoined hands to reach the knuckle on his thumb. He nodded, scooting closer so that they both shared the pillow, sitting up side by side. He slid his other arm around them and she laid her head back on it. 

“I did,” he informed her, and it was clear he was picking each word carefully. Sweet, but unnecessary. Lily was no stranger to the danger that the Death Eaters presented to her. “I saw that no one got hurt.” Typical James, ever the optimist. 

“But they could have,” Lily pointed out. “If there hadn’t been a unit in the area, people would have died.” 

“But they didn’t,” James reminded, “And there’s no use spending energy on things that didn’t happen. Besides, you’re sick. You shouldn’t be making yourself worry.” 

Harsh words sprang to her lips, about how she and people like her didnt have the privilege of “not worrying” because this threat was in directly contradiction with her very exisntace, but she didn’t. Because James hadn’t meant it that way, and there was time enough to educate him. Fifth year Lily (or really any Lily prior to the middle of 6th) would have blurted those words out and ruined what would have been a lovely pocket of peace . 

“You’re right, I shouldn’t,” she said at last. James pulled away in shock, blinking owlishly behind his square wire glasses.

”Did you just admit to being wrong?” She smacked him on his unfairly solid chest. 

“Don’t make me regret it.” 

“No no no you said it- it’s immortalized in my memory. I wish I had a Muggle television to record this!” 

“A television?” 

“Yeah! Those little things with the little flippy-outy bit that lets you save what you see!” 

“You mean a recorder.” 

“Right, yeah, that.” 

Madame Pompfrey was not a sentimental woman. Nice, sure. But being nice and sentimental didn’t fix bones or heal cuts or put limbs back where they should be. So it was a skill that she never focused on honing. She could comfort a crying patient and calm down even the most skiddish of sick, but she didn’t put too much emotion into those task. 

But when she walked into the hospital wing that morning to do her rounds, she realized that a little bit of caring maybe would go a long way. So when she stumbled upon James Potter wrapped up in Lily Evans, both huddled under the thin blanket and sound asleep, she decided not to wake them up. Lily’s face already had a healthy flush that had not been there when she left her that night. And they looked so peaceful, and very well rested. The Hogwarts Heads were stretched thin these days, she knew. So she cast a silencing charm over Lily’s bed and shooed the various before-breakfast visitors away, promising they would be there later. 

But for now, Madame Pompfrey resolved to let them sleep. James had charmed her with his little speech yesterday, even though he had only been apart from his beloved Lily for a mere day. She glanced once more at the sleeping couple, James’s glasses askew on his face and covered by dark red waves of hair.

She chuckled and shook her head before going into her office. It was true what the Muggles said, she realized. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aha long time no write!! I should be uploading more because it’s summer!!! I logged in today, saw this, and knew it had to be finished. I hope you enjoyed!! Please comment and like ❤️❤️

**Author's Note:**

> i had to get this out bruh


End file.
